Youtube Exercise » English Grammar Homework

B1-B2

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

English with Aga

266K views 4 years ago

Warm-up Questions

Which English past tense do you find the most difficult to use correctly?
When you tell a story, do you prefer using short finished actions or longer background actions?
Do you use “used to” or “would” to talk about past habits in your own life?

Up Next

Let's go to Disney World! – Everyday English Conversations EA Learning English – Video Lessons
Bruno Mars – Count on Me (Official Lyric Video) Bruno Mars
Inside Europe's military technology resurgence NBC News
TOP 10 EXTREME sports for adrenaline junkies TerrificTens
Celeste Headlee: 10 ways to have a better conversation | TED TED

Start With: Word Definition

Order: Alphabetical Random

…

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

Overview + Past Simple vs Past Continuous (story begins) (00:00 – 04:01)

Transcript will load here…

1. Which tenses/phrases does the speaker say the video will cover?

Only “used to” and “would”
Only past simple and past continuous
Past simple, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous, plus “used to” and “would”

2. In the story, what is the main reason the speaker went to Whitstable?

To meet a friend
To have fish and chips
To read a book in a quiet place

3. What does the speaker use to show an action that was happening and then got interrupted?

Past simple for the long action + past continuous for the interrupting action
Past continuous for the long action + past simple for the interrupting action
Past perfect for both actions

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

Past Perfect + Past Perfect Continuous + “used to / would” (04:01 – 07:45)

Transcript will load here…

1. What does the speaker say the past perfect is used for?

Something that happened before something else in the past
A present result of a past action
A finished action at a specific time in the past

2. Why does the speaker use the past perfect continuous with coffee?

Because the coffee happened earlier and there is a visible result (a stain)
Because the coffee action is happening right now
Because coffee is a repeated habit from childhood

3. What do “used to” and “would” have in common in this explanation?

They talk about future plans
They are formal replacements for past perfect
They describe something that happened in the past but doesn’t happen anymore

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

Comparisons + recap of all past forms (07:45 – 12:34)

Transcript will load here…

1. What is the key difference between “I read my book” and “I was reading my book” (in the speaker’s explanation)?

“I read” is present tense; “I was reading” is future tense
“I read” emphasizes a completed action; “I was reading” emphasizes a continuous action over time
They mean the same thing in all situations

2. When does the speaker say you need the past perfect (example: fish and chips)?

When you want to describe a long background action
When you want to show something happened before another past moment
When you want to describe a past habit that stopped

3. In the recap, what is the past perfect continuous used for?

A general truth that is always true
A single finished event in the past
A continuous action that happened before something else in the past

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

Transcript will load here…

1. Which choice best matches the speaker’s overall explanation of past simple?

A past action that continues into the present
An action happening now but started in the past
A finished action at a particular point in the past, often with a time reference

2. Which tense does the speaker connect with the idea “the past before the past”?

Past perfect
Past simple
Past continuous

3. According to the speaker, what do “used to” and “would” mainly express?

Past habits that are not true anymore
Past actions happening at one exact moment
Past events in a specific sequence

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

ALL English Past Tenses Explained in 12 Minutes [including USED TO and WOULD!]

Tell a short story about yesterday using at least three different past forms (past simple, past continuous, past perfect, or past perfect continuous).
What kinds of situations in your life feel most natural for “used to” or “would” (childhood habits, routines, places you visited)? Give examples.
Think of a time you were doing something and another event interrupted you. How would you describe it using past continuous + past simple?
Which two past forms do you confuse most often, and what rule or example helps you remember the difference?